BASEL.- For its fourth year, the 2013 edition of Parcours has moved into the Klingental neighborhood of Basel, one of the city's most culturally diverse and creatively active quarters. Presenting 17 high-caliber works by renowned international artists  Marina Abramović, Marc Bauer, Olaf Breuning, Tom Burr, Michael Craig-Martin, Lothar Hempel, Joep van Liefland, Jill Magid, Lisa Oppenheim, Evariste Richer, Sterling Ruby, Michael Smith & Joshua White, Valerie Snobeck, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Danh Vo, Martin Walde and Artur Żmijewski  Parcours will engage with Basels past and present, weaving artistic interventions into the fabric of different locations across the neighbourhood. Parcours, an official sector of Art Basel, is for the first time curated by Florence Derieux, Director of FRAC Champagne-Ardenne. The sector will open to the public on Wednesday with a night of special performances by L.A Dance Project, Marc Bauer and Michael Smith.

Centering around Kaserne Basel, highlights of Parcours will include a restaging of Marina Abramovićs 'The Airport' (1972), a historical sound environment originally realized at the Student Culture Centre in Belgrade, in which the artist announced intermittent flight departure times, presented by Lisson Gallery. Bortolami Gallery will present 'Dressage' (2013), a new in-situ installation by Tom Burr, consisting of dark wooden and metal structures that present literal and abstract re-workings of equestrian fences, stalls, jumps, paddocks, referring to the vocabulary of sculpture while echoing the former military purpose of the site. New Art Centre and Gagosian Gallery will show 'Hammer (blue)' (2011) by Michael Craig-Martin. Applying a similar technique to his sculptures as to his two-dimensional work, Craig-Martin's objects have sculptural form but at the same time look like drawings against the sky. Hauser & Wirth present a large-scale and fully-functioning wood-burning stove by Sterling Ruby and, which once lit will be operating 24 hours a day during the run of Parcours. Klosterfelde will show Lisa Oppenheims 'Smoke' (2013), a new work including several video projections expanding on her technique of using the light of a match to expose a negative image of smoke. Lothar Hempel, presented by Anton Kern Gallery and Stuart Shave / Modern Art, will present a new installation in the form of a market place, where fragments of history and other forms of reality are for sale. Meessen De Clercq will show 'Avalanche (#2)' (2012) by Evariste Richer, consisting of 60,000 dice. Forming an enlarged and pixelated image of an avalanche, the work addresses, through the use of the dice, the contiguous relationship between an arbitrary game and the unpredictable course of a natural phenomenon.

The opening Parcours Night, taking place on Wednesday, June 12, will feature a special program of performances, curated by Derieux, in addition to late openings of all Parcours sites. Presented by Art Basel in collaboration with Kaserne Basel, L.A Dance Project will perform Merce Cunningham's 'Winterbranch' (1964), an early piece Cunningham created together with Robert Rauschenberg (concept, costumes, lighting design, accessories) and La Monte Young (music); and 'Moving Parts' (2012), a collaboration between dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied and artist Christopher Wool. Throughout the night, Michael Smith will present Avuncular Quest (2013), a new solo performance specially created for Parcours. Presented by Greene Naftali, the work will feature Michael Smiths personae, Mike and Baby Ikki, at the helm of an unclear mission as they exchange
positions and move through various locations around Parcours. Together, the hapless,
ever hopeful 'Everyman' and the pre-lingual infant of ambiguous age embark on a journey
with no end in sight. On the Kaserne plaza, a screening of Marc Bauers animated film
The Architect, 2013 will take place free and open to all. Presented by Freymond-Guth
Fine Arts, the screening will be accompanied by a live performance by the French band
'Kafka'. Produced by the FRAC Auvergne, The Architect is a silent animated film that
explores the relationship between fiction and reality through the eyes of a child,
juxtaposing Friedrich Wilhelm Murnaus 1922 classic Nosferatu with the rise of National
Socialism in Germany. In addition, the silent movie 'La Petite Marchande d'allumettes' by
Jean Renoir will be shown. While the performance by L.A Dance Project is ticketed,
admission to all other performances and screenings on the night is free.